Poliquin Maintains Placement in Congress

BANGOR — On a night where history could be made, the Republican party pulled through nationwide and statewide. Republican Rep. Bruce Poliquin won the vote of the Maine people in a close race, remaining in his seat as Representative for Maine’s Second Congressional District. In 2014, he won the election in a tight race, winning only by 6 percent over his recurring opponent Emily Cain, and achieved victory again in 2016.

“He’s a good businessman and that makes him a good representative,” said small business owner in Veazie, Stacey Guerin.

She said that Poliquin has her support because he knows what he’s doing, he’s made good business decisions, and he has held his word in the past two years in this position. He has a lot of experience that his opponent doesn’t.

Although few polls showed Poliquin’s opponent Cain in the lead, over all Poliquin was the top runner, and came out on top. As of 2:15 a.m. Poliquin has a 9% lead over Cain with 83% of the votes in, bringing him closer to his third and fourth year as Representative for Maine.

Although Cain, a resident of Orono, may have had some hometown advantage, this advantage ran out where Poliquin’s experience and familiar face came in. A loan officer from Biddeford, said that the only plus Cain has now is that she is better known now, but in all, Poliquin has proven himself by running his great campaign.

“Bruce is very personable,” said Jean Hanington a photographer from Lincoln, “He is nothing but nice. I know him as just a person.”

In the past two years that Poliquin has been in office, he has been known for reaching out to his local colleges and businesses, and being very kind with his interactions.

“I’d only met him one time,” said Jean Hanington, “But he remembered my full name the next time I saw him.”

Maine Representative Sheldon Hanington saw a strong future for Representative Poliquin. He said that Cain’s campaign is “defensive and spewing negativity” whereas Poliquin runs his campaign on a more positive note – something rare in modern American politics.

Although some publically proclaimed republicans have made it known they don’t follow Donald Trump, his campaign hasn’t had influence on the Maine Republicans and their support for Poliquin. Representative Hanington said that, “Trump harvests energy from the frustration,” but he also says that the two run very different campaigns, and that “Bruce is the type of guy that treats you how you want to be treated”

Many followers of Poliquin predict a strong future for him, as his opponent has shown a “distrustful” side, and doesn’t have a lot of experience with business. A couple of Poliquin’s supporters even hope for a future as a governor, after his Representative career.

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Josh Roiland

The UMaine Telegraph is the product of 29 students in CMJ 111 “Introduction to Journalism” course which is being offered for the first time at the University of Maine. The goal of the course is to introduce students to the profession and practice of journalism. Students spent the first third of the semester developing news media literacy and learning the ins-and-outs of the profession. They have subsequently transitioned to practicing journalism. They have each covered a “scheduled event” (including political rallies of Donald Trump and Chelsea Clinton) and produced a story. But now they’re undertaking a monumentally more difficult project—to report on a presidential election and produce both an online and print newspaper on deadline.